Not-So-Fated Mates

Chapter 43: Good News

Rod’s POV

Thank God they had finally arrived at the Howling Moon’s pack house. Being in such close quarters with his raging, panicking alpha had been far from pleasant. Hell, as soon as they’d pulled up, Drake had jumped out of the car, not even giving him time to put the vehicle in park. To be honest, he was a bit surprised Drake had let him get that far before jumping out.

His alpha had always been a bit of a hothead, even before the incident with Gideon and Jess, back when he was more of a social butterfly with an actual sense of humor. So he hadn’t been surprised when, as soon as Jackson had gotten the news that Layla had gone missing, his friend had roared so loudly it shook the whole damn pack house. His ears were still ringing from that.

Hothead or not, though, this Layla must be quite the woman to have Drake wrapped around her finger like this. It had been years since he’d dared to hope that the old Drake would come back, but when he’d seen him come back from his visit here, he’d seen the very thing he’d given up on. Which was part of the reason he’d been quite happy to follow Drake here, leaving Jackson to his duties as pack beta. If this girl was half as incredible as she seemed to be, he’d do whatever he could to help his alpha find her.

Right now, though, he’d been stuck with the boring part of the search. Drake had ordered him to go through Howling Moon’s extensive paperwork in hopes of finding out where Zach may have taken her. The alpha of the Howling Moon pack hadn’t seemed thrilled with Drake’s insistance that Zach was most likely involved, but what parent would be? Thankfully, Alpha Richard was a decent enough guy to not only not challenge Drake over the offense to his family, but also willingly hand over everything Drake had asked him for. It was obvious that, though Alpha Richard loved his son, he refused to put him above the pack, which Rod had commended him for. Not every alpha was willing to put the good of everyone over their own family, but it was necessary if one wanted to be a good leader. Yes, to a certain degree, a father or mother could put their child first, but if that child may have been involved in something that could harm even one pack member, it was necessary to be willing to look into it, especially if one of the parents (or both) were in an important position in the pack. It was something he, if he could ever manage to find his mate, had been prepared to do the second he became gamma.

He rubbed his eyes as he continued flipping through papers. So far, nothing looked promising. According to what he’d already gone through with a fine-toothed comb, most of Zach’s possessions included cars, some furniture he’d bought for his room when he’d taken the young woman named Kelly as his chosen mate, and several gifts for her. Which had notably increased since Drake and Jackson had first arrived on their visit, but all that told him was what he already knew from Drake, which was that, the second Drake and Layla had started their thing, Zach had been coveting what he’d once so carelessly thrown away, and his guilt over wanting Layla while he had Kelly had likely driven him to do the very thing cheaters always did: buy their way out of it.

He hadn’t met the young woman yet, but he did feel sorry for her. He wondered if she even knew how likely it was that Zach had taken Layla. He wouldn’t blame her if she did but hadn’t accepted it yet. While he had yet to fall in love, he very much believed that one could easily find themselves blinded to the other’s faults because of that love. Hell, he’d seen that with Drake and Jess.

He sighed heavily, putting the paperwork aside and turning to his laptop. Alpha Richard had given him all the information he needed to tap into any and every computer on the pack’s network, but since he hadn’t found any properties belonging to Zach in the mountain of paperwork he’d just gone through, he figured it would be best to start with property records in the area around them. While it would be relatively simple for even a dimwit like the alpha’s son to hide a property he’d purchased from the pack, he highly doubted the i***t could pull something like that on a more legal level.

His fingers flew over the keyboard, occasionally stopping to direct the mouse where he needed it to go, before returning to their rhythmic tapping. While he wasn’t a computer guru, he was fairly sharp with them and knew quite a few things that helped him in his pack position. He had a keen mind and was adept at deductive reasoning, which proved quite handy in cases like this, though he was normally stuck doing boring paperwork instead of searching for missing shifters. Luckily, his skills hadn’t dulled, though he was certain he had Drake’s penchant for helping weed out bad alphas who liked to harm their packs in multiple ways to thank for that.

As he focused on his computer, his mind wandered again. He found himself wondering, for the billionth time since he’d first known about fated mates, who his would be. Would she be someone like Jess, whom he’d regret ever meeting and falling for? Or would she actually love him the way fated mates were supposed to? Would she be sweet and kind, would she be strong? He shook his head, knowing it was no use wondering. After all these years, it was only a pain in the ass to sit and think about what she might be, when fate or whatever was in control of it all seemed determined to keep her away. He wouldn’t even be surprised if he breathed his last without ever meeting her. It sucked, but it happened, far too often for his taste.

Still, he’d dreamed of a life with his mate by his side, pups begging for him to play with them. Even Jackson, who he had always thought would be a perpetual player, had found his mate. As much as he was happy for his friend, it grated on his nerves that he, who had always been more of a family man, still hadn’t met “the one”, yet Jackson had.

For some reason, Kelly’s name popped into his head suddenly. Just as he was pondering why he kept thinking about the woman he hadn’t even met yet, let alone even seen a picture of, his eyes landed on exactly what he was looking for. He scrambled for his phone before dialing Drake’s number. When his alpha finally answered, he said, “I’ve got good news for ya, buddy. I found him.”